Police have made an arrest in the United Healthcare CEO shooting
Police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, have confirmed an arrest in the shooting death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
The man in custody was identified by New York City police as 26-year-old Luigi Mangione. At this time, Mangione is considered a "person of interest" in the case that launched a nationwide manhunt and sparked heated discussions about the state of for-profit health care in the United States.
Police say he was found with a ghost gun believed to have been used in the killing, as well as a fake ID and a handwritten, three-page document indicating his motivation. NYPD Chief Detective Joseph Kenny said the document in Mangione's possession indicated some "ill will toward corporate America."
During the press conference featuring the NYPD police chief and embattled Mayor Eric Adams, police said an employee at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, recognized Mangione from photos made public by police and called local authorities.
Thompson was shot dead in Manhattan on Wednesday in what New York police called a "brazen, targeted murder." Corporal August Stickel of the Altoona Police Department said Mangione was arrested this morning at the fast food restaurant.
Social media pages appearing to belong to Mangione paint a complicated picture of an Ivy League-educated data engineer with an interest in philosophy and high-minded literature.
In one online review by "Luigi Mangione" of the book Industrial Society and Its Future, the anti-technology essay penned by the "Unabomber," Ted Kaczynski, the reviewer wrote: "It's easy to quickly and thoughtless write this off as the manifesto of a lunatic, in order to avoid facing some of the uncomfortable problems it identifies. But it's simply impossible to ignore how prescient many of his predictions about modern society turned out."
In the aftermath of the shooting, some vocal critics of the U.S. health care system expressed that the shooter's actions could have been the inevitable outcome of a system that prioritizes profits over people's well-being.
On social media, images of the suspected shooter — mask down and smiling in surveillance camera footage — were circulated as the face of a modern-day folk hero who had taken action against a system perceived to be rife with corruption.
As praise poured in for the act of violent vigilantism, some companies removed the biographical information and photos of their executive leadership from their websites.
On a Facebook page appearing to belong to Mangione, comments since his identification as a person of interest ranged from laudatory to insulting.
"I want to donate to your defense fund," one poster wrote in support.
"Thank you for your service, king," said another.
Others expressed their desire to see Mangione locked away for life or facing the death penalty.
"He's done with. Lock away the key. Murder is illegal, mkay?" one critic wrote.
